Congressman will try to halt USPS plan to close processing center
A spokesman for U.S. Congressman Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that steps are being taken to halt a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) plan to close the Rockford mail processing center and move it to Madison, Wis.
“Hopefully we are going to be able to convince them [USPS officials] not to do this,” said Rich Carter, a spokesman for Manzullo. “Right now, we’re trying to get them to back off this proposal. It would devastate northern Illinois.”
He said the move to Madison would delay mail delivery to homes and businesses in Ogle County and seven others, Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson, JoDaviess, Carroll, Whiteside, and Lee.
“There will be delays of at least two to three days if they have to send mail from Madison,” Carter said.
The delays could drastically affect when residents receive prescription medicines, bills, and even movies, he said.
Carter said Manzullo is working with U.S. Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to keep the Rockford processing center and others in the state.
Manzullo has asked to see the data the USPS is using to support the closure of the Rockford center.
“We’re beginning to get that, and we’re going over it,” Carter said.
Manzullo’s efforts have also succeeded in getting a public hearing set by USPS officials to go over the closing pushed back a week.
Originally set for Dec. 8, the hearing has been rescheduled for Thursday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Best Western Clock Tower Resort & Conference Center, 7801 E. State St., Rockford.
Manzullo had asked for the public hearing, which is required as part of the consolidation study, to be postponed to early January to give local officials time to analyze the data and offer alternatives to shuttering the local facility and sending nearly 200 jobs north to Wisconsin.
According to a press release sent by Manzullo, in a letter to Postmaster General Pat Donahoe, the Congressman explained how he worked with Rockford postal officials during the last consolidation study in 2006 to present alternative information that convinced the USPS to abandon its plan to move Rockford mail processing operations to the Chicago suburbs.
Local officials again need to see the USPS data comparing operations in Rockford with Madison so they can correct it if necessary, the press release said.
“The Rockford processing center was under a similar review six years ago and we found that the data in the previous USPS was incorrect, and resulted in keeping the Rockford facility open,” Manzullo said in the release. “It is impossible to effectively offer comment on a proposal without knowing the assumptions and information that underlie the proposal.”
The Rockford mail processing center is consistently rated among the most efficient centers in the nation, and Rockford workers provide excellent overnight delivery service to their customers in zip codes starting with 610 and 611, the press release said.
Closing the Rockford mail processing center is part of the USPS effort to balance its budget and avoid bankruptcy.
The USPS has also proposed cutting costs by closing the post offices in Chana, Seward, Holcomb, Lindenwood, Esmond, and Nachusa.
